Abstract/Summary

As with many aspects of antiquity, the more we discover about Aphrodite,
the more we seek. Images of her or others in her guise are extensive;
work over the last two hundred years provides important historical and
archaeological contexts that connect the images with their creators and
users. These contexts are now an important means of understanding
Aphrodite’s divine personality or role(s) in various places and times.
Although ancient attestation for her is sometimes less than for other goddesses, there is certainlymore post-antique evidence for her Nachleben—
as herself, as Venus, or as an archetype or stereotype. Our comprehension
is nonetheless complicated by the variety of ways she is perceived
and received—in cult, art, and literature—up to the present.